Ross Spano (barely) digs himself out of the red in latest campaign finance activity

Ooops: Ross Spano accidentally brought a gun to the airport.

Congressman Ross Spano isn’t broke anymore, according to his third quarter campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday.

But he’s out quite a bit of cash thanks to loan repayments to his botched 2018 campaign loans.

Reports show Spano raised $117,000 from July through September, bringing his total amount raised this year to $400,000. But he repaid $110,000 to loans that fueled his 2018 campaign that Spano admitted amounted to illegal campaign contributions.

That leaves nearly $60,000 in loans that still need to be paid, which means Spano’s campaign still owes almost as much as it’s worth. That’s still better than his second quarter reports, which put him more than $16,000 in the red.

Spano’s campaign attempted to explain away the low campaign balance, writing in an email that the loan contributions came “at the recommendation of staff from the Federal Election Commission.” The U.S House of Representatives is investigating Spano for an ethics violation related to the illegal 2018 loans.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee roasted Spano over his campaign’s attempted spin, sharing the campaign’s email with a series of strikethroughs and additions changing, among other things, the campaign’s claim that the fundraising cycle was “strong” to “historically weak.” They also added the word “illegal” to references to Spano’s repaid loans.

The campaign also announced new campaign hires it says position Spano well for a strong 2020 reelection campaign.

That includes hiring Political Insights consultant Mac Stevenson, fundraiser Kevin Hoffman and Public Opinion Strategies partner Gene Ulm.

“I am excited about having such a dynamic and well-respected team in place to ensure our District continues to have strong Conservative representation in Washington,” Spano said in a statement. “Make no mistake about it – Conservatives values are under attack, and if we don’t fight hard to preserve them, we run the risk of being overrun by the liberal Democrat agenda.”

Stevenson’s has worked for former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Florida Congressman Greg Steube. Hoffman has worked for Senator Marco Rubio and Ulm is a  leading political strategists and pollster for the Republican Party.

The DCCC balked at Spano’s campaign staffing shuffle by noting that the announcement meant kicking to the curb one of Spano’s previous consultants, Brock Mikosky.

“Facing continued questions about his illegal fundraising scheme and a new bipartisan investigation into his shady finances, Congressman Spano fired his longtime political consultant and once again raised less money this quarter than the quarter before,” said DCCC spokesperson Avery Jaffe.

Spano’s latest campaign earnings include numerous contributions from Political Action Committees supporting the sugar, insurance, banking and airline industry.

In all he took in nearly $53,000 from PACs. Another more than $9,000 came from a joint fundraising committee called Take Back the House 2020 that is working to elect or reelect dozens of Republicans nationwide. That group has contributed a total $108,000 to Spano’s campaign to date, which represents about a quarter of his entire campaign finance earnings.

U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is hosting Take Back the House 2020. The committee has fueled more than $11 million into Republican Congressional campaigns nationwide, according to Open Secrets.

Spano will face one of two Democrats running to unseat him including former Tampa Bay area newsman Alan Cohn and State. Rep. Adam Hattersley. Both have raised far less than Spano, but have about the same amount of cash-on-hand.